Drunken Georgia man flees court after DUI sentencing, leads cops on car chase

JOHNS CREEK , Ga., April 10 (UPI) -- A Georgia man who allegedly showed up to his DUI sentencing while drunk fled from the courtroom after the judge sentenced him to 63 days in jail and led police on brief car chase that ended with him being tasered.

James Earl Johnson was sentenced to jail after failing to pay more than $2,000 in fines from a previous DUI conviction.

The 44-year-old was hospitalized after leading Johns Creek police on a short chase Tuesday morning.

“He was non-compliant in his probation and I guess his acts were consistent with his acts as a probationer also,” City Solicitor Bill Riley told WSB-TV.

Johnson drove his truck at an officer during the chase, so he will likely face additional aggravated assault charges.

“Charges are still pending,” said Lt. Chris Byers. “We’re looking at everything that happened. It ends with no crashes and nobody getting injured, so yeah that’s always a good ending.”

A witness in the courtroom, Michael Thifault, said that Johnson was very “argumentative” with the district attorney and with his parole officer during sentencing.

“The guy kind of had it coming to him with the way he was arguing with everybody in the courtroom,” he said. “Justice will be served on that guy.”

[WSB-TV] [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]